Armoroad's Heroes
by Hikari-Urufu-no-Yami
Summary: Five adventurers from different pasts all share the same dream. To explore the winding and perilous Labyrinth of Armoroad. Follow Grayce, a princess from a far off land, Nessa, the stealthy kunoichi, Yoh, a zodiac whose only goal is to protect what is precious, Juudai, the fearless gladiator, and Johan, the buccaneer with a mysterious past, to save Armoroad!
1. Episode I: Onto Adventure

**A/N: Hey everyone! It's Hunny~**

**Hunny: This is my first Etrian Odyssey Story I have posted. I am relatively new to the fandom and to be honest I love the game to bits so I decided to make a fic for it with the characters I used in Etrian Odyssey III: The DrownedCity (Of which I do not own so shoo pesky lawyers shoo!). So I hope you like~**

**BTW the main Character is Grayce but it'll mostly be in 3****rd**** person POV cuz I suck at 1****st**** person POV (Point-of-View for those who may not know)**

* * *

**Armoroad's Heroes**

**Episode I: Onto Adventure!**

"C'mon we're going to be late Gray!" a ninja girl harshly whispered to her companion as they ran through the alleys and dark streets of a nice port city of stone and wood. The ninja was a brunette wearing a short pink kimono, a purple scarf and an olive green obi along with the kitsune mask concealing her features and a belt filled with dangerous items and a blade's sheath on the back.

The girl she was scolding was a princess with platinum blonde hair held in a silver crown, navy, orange and purple clothing with silver and copper fastenings and breastplate made up her regal dress, she held in her hand a black staff glowing slightly with power in her gauntleted hands that only seemed to make her crimson eyes shine brighter. "Well soooooooorry! It wasn't _my_ fault the guards decided to pull an extra shift Nessa!"

"Ugh!" The ninja cried before hauling her friend, who gave an undignified yelp at the treatment, onto her back and pushed her legs to go faster in order to get to the docks on time for their (unscheduled) merchant ship to take them on their shared journey. "Hurry up magic boy or you're getting left behind!"

The third cohort was a male with long brown hair with a dark purple barrette, a matching high collar robe with a large golden star emblazoned on the front and brass buttons, large pink mechanical energy wings were attached to the back of said robe that were made of the same energy as the green and black spear like weapon he carried in his hand.

Olive eyes gazed down upon the running form in amusement and exasperation as he flew above. "It seems as though you are the one who is needing to 'catch up' with me seeing as I am currently one point five-seven meters ahead of you exactly and gaining on our target. And my name is Yoh, please do use it."

The young kunoichi could only sigh at the scientist's observation and obvious lack of social skills. Before quickly gaining composure as they neared the vessel.

Using her stealth she kept to the shadows of the boat and motioning for the other to do the same. He did and made a quick observation while doing so. No one was currently on board so it looked like they could get on, get to the captain's quarters and bribe their way to their destination.

He mentioned that to his two female companions and as the royal nodded they all hopped on and made their way below deck, always on the lookout.

By the time they made it to the quarters, which wasn't long since the ship itself wasn't all that large, the noble knocked quickly on the door three times in a specific pattern, a code for all merchants in the area that they weren't pirates. The door opened to reveal a scruffy looking man with sake in one hand and a manifest in the other, captain's hat sitting tilted on his balding head. He took one look at the three of them and his eyes widened.

"Pr-pr-pr-Princess Grayce! What are you doin-," before h could finish a hand was slapped over his mouth by a slender, gloved hand.

"Be quiet! Do you wish to alert the entire capitol with your shouting?" The kunoichi asked tersely. With a quick shake of 'no' she released him from her grip.

"S-sorry your majesty. But why are you here and not at the castle?"

She smiled one of her many political masks. This one seemed to be the 'oh, how amusing that this commoner is wasting my time'. "Well Captain, I would like for my companions and myself to take a sea journey to Armoroad. I believe you have heard of it yes?"

The man's eyes widened, "Ye can't be serious lass! Why would the Prince-," the poor man was cut off again, but not by a hand this time but by a staff to his face, he gulped at the irritated Zodiac's facial expression.

"Do not question the Princess. Will you take us there or shall we find a more worthy vessel to-," everyone seems to be getting cut off tonight; Nessa pushed the staff away from the man and gave the scientist a pointed gaze through the mask.

He backed down slightly so that Grayce could take center stage once more. "I'm sorry about my guard's attitude. You see I have been looking forward to going to the Legendary City with the Yggdrasil Tree ever since I was a young girl and so I need some help to get there since it _is_ very far from Dhark Kingdom. Do not worry about any strife that may accompany my…unsupervised trip because here is a slip of royal decree I have made and a large sum of gold for you should you take up my request," she pulled out said items that the man practically salivated over (the gold mostly, there was a _lot_ in that sack!) and shook her outstretched hand.

"Of course! I mean who am I to not oblige my princess in an instance of need?"

She beamed at the man before asking for a tour of the facilities until they were shown their cabins to stay in for the trip.

They left that night, not knowing the chaos left behind for the princess' disappearance in the kingdom.

The four weeks it took to get from the Kingdom of Dhark to Armoroad were grueling and long until finally the coast was in sight and the three travelers cheered in happiness for their journey to come to an end.

It took an hour to get to the port of the city and they quickly hauled out while saying good-bye to the crew they had become so close to in their voyage and making their way to the center of town.

Many things passed before the three; the colors, clothing and displays were all so new and exotic for them that they could barely hold in their awe of this new world they seemed to have stepped into. Stalls of all sorts selling strange fruits and vegetables or beaded jewelry and carved knick-knacks for the tourists lined the streets of the grand island. Their own capital was no where near the sheer size of the sprawling city of Armoroad, in the center was the fabled Yggdrasil, the world tree.

Soon they made their way to the first stop on the places the trio needed to visit. The Explorer's Guild.

As they entered the Guild they were intrigued by the fact that the place had palm trees and a multitude of greenery growing from between the slats of limestone the floor appeared to be made of. The wood of the desk and chair in the reception area were light from long exposure to the elements of the tropical environment. Curtains of all colors were draped here and there, for decoration or some other purpose they didn't know. They began to wonder as to where the Guild Master of the place actually was as their wait in the first room grew on. Those thoughts were quickly replaced by excitement as the guild master appeared from behind a curtain on the right side of the building

The man looked up at them, he had a deep tan with some scars covering his face and beige robes hanging off his muscular frame, a navy turban adorned his head as brown eyes blinked at them curiously. "Are you three new here? Here for the adventure, no?"

"Yes, of course! It's something of a dream of ours." The princess responded to his mostly rhetorical question with determination.

The man gave them a waning, amused and yet exhausted lop sided grin as he spoke, "A lot of folks come 'round these parts with the same ideas. Most don't come back out of that labyrinth alive."

The three knew the risks of course, they'd be stupid if they didn't think that going into an unknown place with unknown threats and risks would be and is dangerous if they weren't careful, but that didn't deter the young explorers as they kept their heads held high, always scanning for the slightest of danger.

The ninja nodded to the man, "We realize that sir, but we are still set on becoming explorers in our own guild. To investigate the unknown and fight dangerous foes as they cross our path."

"Yes," the dark haired zodiac added, "We believe we are capable and will continue with our goal."

The dark skinned man gazed at them for a long while before breaking out into chuckles. "Well don't say I didn't warn you," he smiled at the set faces of the three. "So you all want to make your own guild? Well you do realize that you need at least five people to start out with right?"

This surprised them. Five people? Since when and why for that matter.

At seeing the faces of the young ones he replied to the unasked questions, "It was a rule set up by the Senatus. It's mainly for safety sake but those are the rules."

Grayce looked distraught at the fact that not only do they fall short of two members but that may prevent them from becoming explorers of the Labyrinth!

Nessa was more composed, even with the mask still firmly in place and blocking her features from the outside. If need be they could find some other way of procuring more members (_coughcoughthreatencough_).

The ever stoic Yoh stood there next to his two friends with a thoughtful look on his face. No one ever really knew what he was thinking other than the fact that it was much to complicated and that it would give anyone who would dare to try and decipher it a huge migraine.

Seeing how- err- distraught the three were he quickly added, "But there are quite a few places around that could be used to recruit strong members, the wharf for one is good for picking out some hardened pirates or buccaneers, the bar is another place that adventurers prefer to hang out when either they're looking for a guild to join or drinking away the fact that the rest of _theirs_ was killed off in the dungeon."

The platinum princess beamed at the man while the young kunoichi and astrological mage nodded, turning around and preparing to leave. Yoh stopped though before inquiring, "Is it possible to fill out our own guild forms before coming back with the rest of the members? To get it out of the way early?"

The guild master, Leon as he introduced himself*, nodded before handing over the proper forms for the three to sign, their first step into their adventures.

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***Got the idea to name him after someone cool like Leon from FFVIII I believe (I can never get those straight) so viola, the nameless guild master has a name!**

**Hunny: Whew~ That took a little effort to churn out, I'm deviating from the actual story line a little so it can be more original and not just a boring retelling of the game~**

**Hunny: Tell me how you like it, hate it, wish you could have a tangible copy to throw into a blender with rotten tomatoes and make a slurry of unreadable slush~**

**R&R, Ja Ne**

**Hunny~**


	2. Episode II: Need Members? No Problem!

**Hunny: I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be gone this long! I truly didn't but unfortunately I hadn't been able to get myself even near a working computer (mine is shit) so I only have like two or three hours a week to actually work on this and Fullmetal Marauder! I hope you guys aren't too mad at me (^_^') I also apologize if my writing is a little rambly, I tend to babble~**

**Episode II: Not Enough Members? No Problem!**

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It was clear in the ocean city; the sun was still high in the sky, though it was later in the day, where the buildings of glistening white limestone and strong dark wood stood strong and proud. With vibrant and colorful cloths and drapes hanging out of windows and as awnings, the scenery made for a gorgeous view.

Our trio of young warriors ambled down the stone sidewalk as they talked over their predicament. The young royal sent a troubled look to both of her subjects, "Where will we find our other members? We grew up together and have an excellent team dynamic, as I'm sure that other, smaller groups have it as well so they wouldn't want to split up either!"

The older boy put a calming hand on the panicking princess and shot the two females a small smile. "I'm sure that we'll be able to find them, after all, Leon did say that there were plenty of people who were recruitable over at the docks and this 'Butterfly Bistro' that pedestrians have been gossiping about."

The kunoichi gave the zodiac a deadpan stare, "You've been eavesdropping on the civilians haven't you. That's still really creepy even if we are in a new city and need information. Normal people have this thing called privacy and personal space," she none-too-gently pushed the brunette away as emphasis.

He just gave a slight smile and an innocent head-tilt.

She simply face palmed at his actions.

While this was happening the trio didn't notice that their aimless wanderings had lead them over to the docks that the guild master had mentioned. There were large merchant ships, marine crafts and pirate vessels lining the port while workers who were hauling large crates back and forth looked over at them curiously before getting back to work.

Grayce laughed at the two with a few gasped out words in-between, "You two are like siblings with the way you squabble-" she was interrupted by a tall and hard object.

"Ugh, did anyone get the number of the wall that ran me over?" the princess joked lightly while rubbing a sore spot on her head. Her two teammates rushed over to her as the person she had run into turned around to show a handsome teal haired teen.

"Well hello ther' miss. Fancy bumpin' into a girl like you ove' 'ere, must be my lucky day," the boy said jokingly while giving her a hand.

Grayce accepted the hand and brushed herself off before taking a better look at the teen. He had long dark teal hair tied back with wavy bangs with even darker eyes. He wore a loose white shirt with most of the buttons undone, tied around his waist and strapped across his chest were a red bandana and belts with a scabbard and holster attached to the side. His dark brown pants were also loose and tucked snugly within thick leather boots*.

Hands still grasped the princess gave a small curtsy and handshake, "Well if today is your lucky day then it's likewise. My name is Grayce Silviar Dhark; these are my friends, Nessa Kranda and Yoh Arashi Delic III, pleasure to meet your acquaintance…"

Catching the hint the seagoing teen gave a blinding grin and leaned against a crate after releasing her hand. "Dhark, huh? Kinda ironic with the whole albinism," the tealette chuckled lightly, "Names Johan 'Ace' Carbuncle, buccaneer extraordinaire."

"Yes it is isn't it, now I'd like to know what you meant by 'girl like me-"

"Buccaneer you say? You wouldn't happen to be an adventurer would you? Already apart of a guild?" the colorful zodiac fired off questions in a rapid fire interrogation.

The brunette kunoichi sighed while mumbling about how he never learns while the poor pirate looked a little overwhelmed.

"Uhh…yes I am a buccaneer, yeah I dabble in the venturin' and no 'm not part of 'ny guild as of yet. What's with all the questions mate?"

The scientist tapped a finger to his chin as he gazed calculatingly at the boy in front of them. He gazed at him for almost a whole minute with the rest of the party steadily getting either more creeped out (Johan) or exasperated (Grayce and Nessa).

Finally after what had seemed like forever the zodiac nodded before looking at his princess. "Milady, we should ask this pirate if he would be so honored as to join our guild."

The two females sweatdropped at that, _he_ _really thought highly of them didn't he_? Johan on the other hand looked excited.

"Really? You'll let me join your guild! Well that'd great! Oh please can I join, please, please, please Miss Grayce?" Oh goodness, he had amazing puppy dog eyes for someone his age.

With a large smile Grayce gave a resolute nod of her head while gripping his hands once more, "Of course! We'd love to have you!"

The pirate gave a face splitting grin as he leaped up and gathered the three others in a back breaking hug, "Oh thank you! It's been my dream e'er since I was a tike to go adventurin' in the labyrinth! O' thank you, thank you!"

Grayce laughed as much as she could while Nessa's ears were steadily turning red and Yoh was struggling as much as his tall and strong yet still nerdy and twiggy scientist build would allow.

When they were released Yoh dusted off his robes with a pink tinge to his cheeks, Nessa straitened her violet scarf and Grayce started bouncing beside the pirate while the two of them began to walk off while chatting animatedly about old stories of danger and excitement on land and sea.

The remaining two quickly saw that they were being left behind and started rushing back over to their chatting teammates.

"So I have a question, do ya mind?" the pirate questioned with a tilted head (which was eerily similar to a certain male zodiac's) to the young royal.

She gave him a small grin while waving her hand in the air, "'Course not, fire away."

Johan laughed before asking, "So why'd star boy call ya Milady?"

The Dhark trio just face palmed**.

* * *

The four had continued their wandering around the city, having explained that they still needed one more member before they could even go to Senatus to officially become a guild, Johan became determined and dragged them on a quick tour of all the best places while simultaneously scouring the town for their final member.

It became apparent that their efforts were going nowhere they dragged their tired feet into the Butterfly Bistro for some good food and a cool drink to relax before they head over to the inn for the night.

It was a nice place, clean bar and tables of dark wood, alcohol proudly displayed in numerous colors and shapes along with an assortment of foreign foods served to a couple of patrons. There was some nice blue glass between what seemed to be the kitchens and the actual bar along with comfortable and well loved stools lining the counter. Like everywhere else in the city there were colorful drapes hanging from any tasteful opportunity in the room. In the very center was a large tree which seemed to be the base of the establishment, an assortment of glowing blue ornaments hung from the tree shaped in the symbol of a blue butterfly***.

Altogether it was a nice and homey place.

The pub was actually pretty empty for the night with how many explorers usually come 'round for a nice drink after a day of trials from the maze. The only people in there were the busty, pink haired bartender, called Missy apparently, a scruffy looking man gazing sadly into his glass, what looked to be some sort of bard-a troubadour maybe?-chatting amiably with Missy, and a couple of warrior types sitting over near the corner of the bar.

Johan, being the one of the group with the most experience in Armoroad, lead them over to a clear space at the bar and motioned for the bartender over. She nodded with a large grin, appearing to tell the musician that she'd be back, and making her way over to their lot.

"Hey there, Johan! It's been a while; I had thought you had forgotten me!" the…well-endowed woman teased.

Playing along Johan responded, "How could I forget you Miss. You're probably one o' the mos' memorable folks in the city."

She giggled a bit before turning to the rest of the group. "So who're you? Fresh off the boat?"

Nessa gave a curt nod, "Yes actually we are planning on making a guild, Johan has agreed to be our forth member."

She looked a little confused, "Fourth member? Don't you need five to start out with?"

Yoh nodded this time, "Indeed but that is not a problem, we are currently searching for prospect members at this very moment. Actually that is how we came upon Johan."

Missy gave them an encouraging smile, "Well I think that you're gonna find that last member of yours pretty quick, slick~! Enough chit-chat though! I can see that you all came to eat not talk with a chatty waitress! So what'll it be?"

While Johan told them about some of his favorite choices from Armoroad's more unique menu a verbal war seemed to be breaking out with the two warriors over in the corner.

Grayce happened to notice the argument but thought nothing of it till, when Missy was jovially walking back to the window to tell the chef their orders, a plate came flying through the air towards the unsuspecting woman.

Acting quickly she grabbed her staff and deflected the glassware from its course while shattering it to pieces. Startled the bartender looked behind her quickly to see the princess standing in front of her with her staff out and ready to tussle.

Nessa stood abruptly and took a step to the two fighters, the smaller of the two seemingly slightly intoxicated and standing above the larger.

"What do you mean I'm out! Wats-what's that about!?"

The smaller male was actually fairly tall with a strong build with striking but hazy blue eyes and vibrant red hair, a red scarf wrapped in his seemingly untamable mane and around his neck with a sleeveless black and red top. His shorts were an off white and covered in armor plating, a large sword was being covered on the hilt by the boys hand, ready to be used at a moments notice while a shield was strapped on his left arm.

The second man who was decidedly older than his apparently ex-guildmate and covered in more armor. He had a dark skin tone, most of his exposed skin from under the armor was covered in bandages, though more for decorations sake than necessity, with his own club out and ready.

"Yeah you're out, you're reckless and a danger to all of the Pale Horse****! We are supposed to pride ourselves on being completely prepared to face any danger that the labyrinth can throw at us but we can't hold up our reputation with you flying thoughtlessly into battles that could get your teammates hurt or killed!"

"Hey."

The two males turned to look at the unassuming kunoichi, while the older one immediately wrote her off the younger one, while clearly under the influence was still wary.

"What? Can't you see that this is a private matter girly?" the elder scoffed at her.

Nessa didn't seem to react-though no one other than Grayce could tell with the mask on-to the jibe. "Not very private when you almost knocked that plate flying to the _innocent_ Missy."

Which was true, the bandaged man had been the one to toss the plate, the reason he was on the ground currently was that the younger hadn't wanted anyone to get hurt and thrown him there, albeit a little too late.

That seemed to rile up the elder, "Who do you think you're talking to girl? I'm one of the senior members of the Pale Horse guild, one of the most respected guilds to ever lay foot on Armoroad!"

"Well apparently this Pale Horse isn't all that great if you are supposed to be an example."

The man was pissed at that point while the boy seemed to be liking the kunoichi more and more.

Before things could get out of hand Grayce placed a hand on her teammate's shoulder while making sure that both Johan went to guard the young gladiator while Yoh the bartender, the rest of the bar was almost deathly silent with the tension.

"Stand down Kranda."

Knowing that her friend would only call her by her last name when it was serious she did as told while still staying on guard just in case the older fortress wanted to start something.

"Now, I don't like how you had addressed my friend Mr. Pale Horse Senior. I will be able to over look this whole thing if you simply apologize to Miss Missy here and leave quietly while both your dignity and your guild's reputation is intact."

The defensive class warrior was angry but he knew that he started something with some unknown guild with new warriors it would devastate his rep, but he knew that the reputation of the Pale Horse would be fine, the girl was obviously a good negotiator but she didn't know all of the variables, he could not let that girl get away with smack talking him.

"How about we settle this the old fashioned way? Who ever gets the edge shot wins. You win, I leave with an apology to both your ninja friend and pinky, if I win you leave Armoroad and never come back."

She would never accept such a one sided deal but it seemed the royal didn't have much of a choice when her friend spoke up with a 'deal' not long after.

They gave ach other meaningful glances and the royal backed down, her friend knew what she was doing.

* * *

The two stood outside, a relatively large crowd gathered outside when they saw a duel but it was late so it wasn't as many as there could have been.

The kunoichi spared a glace back at her friends and the young gladiator they helped and saw all but Yoh cheering her on, he was praying to the stars for her victory, one of his zodiac traditions. Standing tall for not only herself but her friends as well she laid a hand on her dagger in the sheath on her waist and waited for Missy to begin the fight.

Missy had her left and right hands raised, a different colored towel in each hand. At once she lowered them and the fight began. Straight away she melded into the shadows, best way to fight an enemy stronger than you was to find a weakness and exploit it from darkness.

She circled him, he had a little sweat on the back of his-strangely exposed-neck, he was nervous, he couldn't see her and didn't know what she was planning. Gazing steely at the man she waited and waited and waited, until suddenly she saw it, an opportunity!

She grabbed it full force and shot out two kunai to his shadow, with a single hand sign she signed his defeat. With one whisper it was all but over, "Kagenui."

The Pale Horse member's legs suddenly froze up and just about as he was going to hit the ground face first he felt something grab the back of his shirt and a cold blade at his throat.

Missy rose up the flag on Nessa's side with a happy shout of, "Match Point!"

Standing up from her crouch she gathered her kunai and sheathed her dagger as her friends rushed over to congratulate her.

"Tha' was great knife work ther'! Completely wicked."

"Yes quite 'wicked' were your fighting skills, though I'd never doubt a comrade"

"Amazing as always Nessa, I knew you could do it."

The crowd gave their congrats before moving on back home until all that was left was the wild haired gladiator.

"Ya know," he started, a little sheepish but now completely sober, "that was some pretty impressive fighting you did, if this is the power of your guild than I'm sure that you could reach the end of the labyrinth and defeat any monster that comes your way."

At that the boy gave a small sad smile before starting to walk off.

"That's it?"

He turned back to face the kunoichi, confusion clearly etched in his face. "Wha-"

"I help you and I don't even get a thank you?"

"Oh." He seemed even more sheepish if possible by rubbing the back of his head, messing up his already tousled locks, it was actually really cute, "sorry, well thank-"

"Nope too late, now you have to do something for me as a thanks," the brunette gave her albino friend a meaningful glance, which she almost immediately got a bright grin to, "you have to join our guild as our fifth and final qualifying member."

The boy looked floored, he had just lost a place on one guild only for another to show up, beat his old one hands down, and then to get recruited again?

The giant grin appeared moments later.

"Alright then. I accept! I haven't told you my name yet have I? Well I'm Juudai. Juudai Hokama, a fearless gladiator."

* * *

***What I really had wanted to add after this part, "Altogether he was kinda hot." But didn't think that'd fit in too well~**

****They seem to be doing that a lot huh?**

*****If you haven't noticed by now I am making shit up as I go along, I know that there are pictures of the places in-game but I use them more like concept art than the actual setting.**

******IDK I needed a guild and it seemed like a good excuse to get him kicked off…I also wanted a fight scene so I imagined that he looked like Danzo from Naruto and made him act like a dick…who got his ass whooped by a girl~ He's not even important to the plot, hell he doesn't even have a name I've just been calling him Danzo in my head the whole time (v')**

**Hunny:Sorry my updates are so far and few between! But you don't know how long it takes me to get all this down on paper, while I am a fast-ish typer I make a lot of mistakes and I tend to ramble so a lot of editing is done just to get a single scene up a running, the whole bar/fight thing (I mean the ****_whole_**** bar thing not just the fight or desc.) took me an hour and a half for about 1500-1800 words!**

**Hunny: Now I have only a couple of questions; Should I do the 'true' ending or one of the other two (Armoroad or DeepCity siding) for the story progress. If you want the true ending that might take a little while since I'm only starting my second play-through and was planning on doing the Deep City ending this time and then doing the 'true' ending.**

**Hunny: And this last one is just for fun, to see what my readers are actually like, I'll be posting one of these with every chapter in all my stories now.**

Question: What was the very first game or anime that got you into the respective entertainment? I wanna know this stuff people! Lay it on me!

**Now review time~!**

**Maglyt1: Thanks~ My fro-bro (Friend with a fro~) is a huge FF nerd so he was loved the reference too~**

**MagicMissile: Hee~ Yeah all my characters are based off of either personalities of my friends or from TV shows I like~ So no Sasuke-esque zodiacs! You actually got through my long ass descriptions? Wow that's pretty impressive, even I get sidetracked when reading them~ Yeah can't wait to see what you think about it~**

**Thanks for all your support~**

**Ja Ne**

**Hunny~**


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